Pimsleur Spanish has a lot of fans as a method for learning Spanish, but like everything in this world, it has its pros and cons. Here I summarize the views of a variety of people who have actually used this program. My resources for this article include two good friends of mine who used it all the way through the 90 lessons, along with what I read all over the internet.
Five Good Things about Pimsleur Spanish
- It is really good for helping you with pronunciation. Because it’s an audio program, you are listening all the time. This keeps you out of some bad habits that can be formed if you are also learning reading and writing, where you may look at a word and pronounce it as if it were in English.
- What you know, you really know. Because you drill repeatedly – though in an enjoyable and even engaging way – you really get to know the basic building blocks of the language. And because the program engages you in dialogue, you have to put sentences together yourself that you haven’t just heard.
- It provides a good foundation for further learning of Spanish in other ways. You may want to learn to read and write, you may want to study grammar, you may want to lie on a beach in Mexico and chat with the local people. Whatever your next steps, you have a great start.
- Pimsleur Spanish easy to use. Since it is an audio program for learning Spanish, you can listen in your car or at other times.
- The repetition built into the program really helps memory – and one of my friends repeatedly checked the programs out of his public library and listened to them again and again.
Five Bad Things about Pimsleur Spanish
- It is expensive. Retail price adds up to over $1,000 for the three series of 30 lessons each. (But see below for Amazon’s deep discounts.)
- You come out of it with a small vocabulary.
- There is not much grammar.
- There is virtually no reading and writing. It comes with a booklet but the method is not really about learning to read or write.
- While the vocabulary is correct, it does not represent current Latin American usage. Some of the examples are rather formal and old fashioned.
So What About Pimsleur Spanish for You?
People seem to like it as PART of a way to learn Spanish, often as a beginning. Many of the people who have gone through Pimsleur Spanish feel very satisfied with it as a great basis. One person commented he wished he had done some extra vocabulary study at the same time.
Curious? You can find out more at Amazon. Do note that Spanish 1, 2, and 3 are the main courses, and there are a couple of less expensive Pimsleur programs that have the same lessons on them as the beginning of Spanish 1.
Click on the image to check them out at Amazon:
